I understand that not everyone gets the same set of parents that go to church on Sunday and love their kids to death. Some parents are fucked up, some more than others. I’ve always thought fucked up parenting raises fucked up kids. I think the worse thing a parent can do is blame something their kids do on the media, it makes them look naïve, ignorant and not to mention an all-around bad parent. Everyone listens to music and they are free to make up their decisions on what type of music they like. Some may like a song for the rhythm, some for the lyrics, and some because others do. When we listen to a song we automatically try and make connections to what we are listening to, how are we the same? We relate music to the lives we live. What I’m saying is that we choose to listen to music that is like us, we are not trying to turn into the music we listen to. It is the parent’s responsibility to explain to their kids that not everything they see or hear on television or the radio is true.
People in the music industry are making songs about what they are seeing in society, what they are experiencing, and what they think sells. Can an artist really be held accountable for having a stronger connection to your child than you do? Is it reasonable to connect a kids behavior to someone he or she has most likely never met? In Eminem’s song, who knew, off of the Marshall Mathers LP Album, Eminem talks about how entertainers like him are being accused for the acts of other parents children. “Quit tryin to censor music, this is for your kid's amusement, But don't blame me when lil' Eric jumps off of the terrace you shoulda been watchin him. Apparently you ain't parents.’ This is my favorite line of the song because he is 100% correct. Everyone will be exposed to sex, drugs, and violence, after all this is life. Yet the parents job is to teach their kids right from wrong, and if their kids aren’t old enough yet then they should be monitoring their kids more.
The Beastie Boys, a rock/hip-hop group, released their album licensed to ill in 1986. This album contains the song fight for your right. The song talks about the average teenager standing up against their parent’s rules because they disagree. “Your pops caught you smoking and he said No way. That hypocrite smokes two packs a day. Man, living at home is such a drag, now your mom threw away your best porno mag.” The parents are trying to impose rules on their children that they themselves do not abide by. So in return the kids are tired of living home because of the bogus rules. Many parents believe that because they are the parent their children will listen to their every command. It is important for the parent to explain their reasoning to their children to help them mature. It is the parent’s responsibility to explain to their children that smoking cigarettes is not the worse thing that they can do, yet it is one of the hardest habits to quit. Maybe if the parents sat down and explained matters like these to their kids then the kids would not need to listen to music for advise.
Parents are responsible! Not responsible for making sure thier children doesnt here the music because some way some how either a friend or the radio will expose them to it. But responsible for teaching them right from wrong. THis has been an on going debate for years about rappers lyrics responsible for childrens actions. No! Parents must be their to teach children how to act. To not give them the oppurtunities to consume their selves so deep in the music that it turns them to violence. I have been listening to rap, hip hop, and many other genres all my life and at no point in time have i ever thought of killing someone just because a rapper said to. Music just represnt someone elses struggle so others wont have to experience it. Dont blame the music, blame yourself for not taking out the time to talk and have fun with your children.
ReplyDeleteI would say your point that "What I’m saying is that we choose to listen to music that is like us, we are not trying to turn into the music we listen to" is too simple. While I do not agree with reductive logic that listening to a song will make you kill someone, I believe that what makes "us" what "we" are is whatever we find around us. You make this point yourself, when you write "We relate music to the lives we live." What I mean to argue here is that "we" don't exist until formed by and through the culture that surrounds us. If you surround yourself with songs about violence, drugs, and sex, then...
ReplyDeleteI also recognize that violence is not produced merely through song. There are many causes for it. And some of us are closer to it than others. I grew up in a neighborhood where trouble was there if you wanted to find it. But, unless you were really unlucky, it didn't go looking for you. Not everyone has that privilege.
I would say this: there are some people in the music industry who are commenting on the violence, who recognize it as a problem, and who seek ways of transcending it. There are others who represent that violence and encourage it to make a quick buck. There's an essay by Chuck-D in which he makes a distinction between rap music and hip-hop, and explains why he gave up on rap. Rap, he writes, is a product of white, rich producers who wanted to commodify and sell poor, violent, black culture to rich, indulgent, satisfied white kids. And it worked. And bands like NWA made tons of money "selling" black experience and black pain. This is back in the late 1980's and early 1990's (his essay is from 2007). But I think we could still identify the same thing happening today. Hip-hop, for Chuck-D, attempts to avoid this. It is less a celebration of gangsta and more a questioning of culture and cultural difference. It resists hoes and bitches in favor of men and women. It resists violence in the name of struggle. Parents might not be able to identify the difference between these two, but I'll bet kids can.
Yea, i gotta say you were on the right track in the beginning, but lost it when you used Nas as your reasoning point. Almost all mainstream rappers come off as arrogant and cocky, with very few actually having substance to their music. Nas's earlier stuff definitely did, but now? hell no. You also forgot to factor in that first off, kids are dumb, as we all were at an earlier age, and two, guns are viewed as "gangster" and cool, so of course a kid is going to like a song that talks about shooting someone, just ask Deznuts, he plays enough video games that involve killing people...
ReplyDeleteGrowing up my parents really never tried to sensor music but it was opposite. I just would not let my mother listen to what I am listening to. Sometimes, certain songs slipped out before I could change the station. One example was when I was driving my mother and a coworker (a minister's wife) to work and the song Highway to hell came on. I damn near broke the knob to turn the station trying not to have them hear the songs.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, people today are concered with the lyrics of music and even Walmart censors the music they sell but musicians have alway pushed the buttons to sell music. Barry White, Marvin Gaye and Prince always were singing about sex. In the sixties and seventies they sung about drugs, sex and rock and roll. Nothing changes but nowadays those buttons are just extended more.
There is only so much parents can do now a days to prevent their children from listening to songs with violent and sexual lyrics wince there are too many ways to listen to them and too many sounds that have violent and/or sexual content. How is it even possible? I remember when I was about 13 and got my hands on one of Eminem's cds. A few of the songs had something along the lines of him receiving oral sex...sounds and everything. Even though I was 13 and knew what those things were it was inappropriate. I do believe some music can have an influence on young children but I can agree with you that it probably won't make them go on a killing spree or become a nympho. I would have to agree with some of the other comments that music taste has to do with the culture that surrounds us.
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